Toy typewriter



May 2, 1933. T. R. ARDEN 1,907,379

TOY TYPEWRITER Filed Sept. 19. 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet l my .l QS vm v5 NN@@@mQQQQQ @@@QQQ IHIIIIIII Hllflll May 2, 1933. 1,907,379

T. R. ARDEN TOY TYPEWRITER Filed Sept. 19. 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 FI-fig.Z.

TOY TYPEWRITER Filed Sept. 19. 1932 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 T. R. ARDEN TOYTYPEWRITER May 2, 1933.

4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Sept. 19. 1932 Patented May 2, 1933 UNITED STATESTHOMAS PATENT oFFlcE RAYMOND ABDEN, OF BALDWIN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOB T0AMERICAN FLm KFG. GO., 0F CHICAGO, ILLIIN'OIS, A CORPORATION 0F ILLINOISlroir mEwmEa Application mea september 1a, lass. serial no. 633,865.

This invention relates to typewriters, and

has particular reference to a typewriter which is intended primarily tobe manufactured, sold and used as a toy, but which at the same time,embodies a const-ruction and mode of operation adapting the same forpractical use.

A special object of the invention is to provide a typewriter whichclosely simulates ordinary commercial typewriters in general appearance,but which is composed of relatively few parts which may be economically(produced and assembled, whereby the typewriter is of comparatively lowproduction cost.

'Another object of the inventionis to provide a typewriter having anovel construction and mode of operation, and which, in addition tobeing of comparatively low production cost, is compact, strong anddurable, and thoroughly reliable and eicient in operation.

With the foregoing and various other objects in view, which will becomemorefully apparent as the nature of the invention is better understood,the same consists in theV novel features of construction, 'combinationand arrangement of parts as will'be hereinafter more fully described,illustrated in the accompanyingr drawings and defined in the appendedclaims.

In the drawings, wherein like characters of reference denotecorresponding .parts in the dierent views I Figure 1 is a top plan viewof a typewriter constructed in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevation.

Figure 3 is a central cross section.

Figure 4 is a plan view with the platen and its carriage removed. andwith parts broken away to disclose the underlying structure.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the type guard.-

Figure 6 is a detail view showing thestep'- by-step platen advancingmeans in normal position.

Figure 7 is a view similar to Fig..6 showing the platen advancing Ameansin a platen advancing position.

Figure8 is a detail end view of the` platen carriage.

Figure 9 is a detail sectional view through one end of the platen andits carriage; and

Figures 10, 11 and 12 are detail views of' the platen advancing pawl.

Referring in detail to the practical em,- bodiment of the inventionillustrated in the drawings, A designates, generally, a hollow framewhich may be cast', but which, preferablyis preed or otherwise suitablyformed from sheet metal, either in one piece or in a plurality ofpieces, and which is composed, as shown, of side walls 10, a rear wall11, a front wall 12 and a top wall 13.

The frame lA is Vof suitable len and width and is of greatest height atits rear, being of gradually reduced height from' a point spacedsuitably forward from its rear wall to the front thereof, and having itsto wall 13 formed as a series of steps on whi are suitably providedsimulations 14 of the keys of an ordinary typewriter, whereby arelatively close general simulation of the appearance of an ordinarytypewriter is obtained.

Suitably fixed to the top wall 13 of the frame A at the rear thereof isan elongated guide 15 which extends longitudinally of the frame andwhich is formed preferably from a strip of sheet metal having upwardlyand outwardly flared mar inal flanges 16.

A platen carriage, designated generally as B, and composed of a bottomwall 17 and end walls 18, is mounted on the guide 15 for slidingmovement therealong and is retained in assembly with the frame A byhaving marginal portions 19 of its bottom wall 1 anged downwardly andinwardly for cooperation with the guide ianges 16:

A platen 2O in the formA of acyljnder of means for manually rotating theplaten.

24 concentric with the axis of rotation of the platen and evenly spacedapart corresponding to the amount of rotation of the platen amountcorresponding to a desired spacing betwen lines of they matter to betyped, while mounted within a recessin the and projecting beyond the endthereof for cooperation with said depressions 24 is a spring pressedfriction pin 25. Obviously,

the pin 25 permits manual rotation of the I tation.

' At the rear of the platen 2O and mounted on a rod or shaft 26 which isjournaled at its ends in the end walls 18 of the carriage B is a paperguide roller 27, while at: the' front ofthe platen and mounted on a rodor shaft 28 which also is journaled at its ends in the end walls of thecarriage is one or more paper guide rollers 29. One of the end walls ofthe carriage is slotted to receive the related endof the rod or shaft 28so that said rod may be swung outwardly to move the roller or rollers 29away from the platen to facilitate the introduction of a sheet of paperbetween the platen and the roller or, rollers 29, while pivoted to saidend wall is a hook 30 for engagement with said rod l,or shaft 28 to holdthe same engagedin said slot.

A sheet metal paper guide plate 31 is secured between the end walls 18of the carriage B and extends beneath the platen 20 in slight spacedrelation thereto and thence upwardly and rearwardly so as to support asheet of paper in operative position relative to the platen, and saidplate is slotted as shown to accommodate the guide roller 27. Moreover,afresilient friction member 32 is carried either by the carriage B forenagement with the guide 15, or bythe guide or engagement with thecarriage, to resist endwise movement of the carriage, thus to hold thesame normally against such movement.

A shaft 33 extends longitudinally of the frameA and-is journaled at itsends'in the side walls 10 thereof, and on this shaft is mounted forforward and backward rocking movement a transverse, upwardly andforwardly inclined shaft 34 having an extension 35 which projectsdownwardlyv below said shaft 33.

Rotatably mounted on the shaft 34 is a sleeve 36 which rests at itslower end on a collar or abutment 37 carried by said shaft and which hasfixed thereto at its upper end a type wheel 38, and, at its lower end, agear wheel 39.

platen Y The shaft 34 is disposed midway between the sidesuof the frameA and directly in front of the-platen 20, being so spaced therefromtha-t'tlie type wheel 38 is normally spaced a short distance from theplaten( so as to be necessary to advance a sheet of paper an,"

swung thereagainst when the shaft 34 is rocked' rearwardly.

Norrjnally the shaft 34 is maintained by a coil spring 40 in a forwardlyrocked positlon in the type wheel 38 is spaced from the platen20, saidcoil spring being connected at lone end to the extension 35 of saidshaft 34 and at its other end to the rear wall of the Another` shaft 41extends longitudinally of the frame A in front of the shaft 33 and, asin the case of the latter shaft, is journaled at its ends in the sidewalls 10 of the frame. Suitably mounted on this shaft 41 for slidingmovement therealong and also for rocking movement relative thereto is alever 42 having an elongated' rear end portion 43 formed with rack teeth44 for cooperation with the teeth of the gear wheel 39. Said portion 43also is formed with a marginal, rearwardly directed lip 45 whichunderlies thevfront portion' of said gear wheel 39 so as to serve, whenthe said rear end portion. of the lever 42 is swung upwardly, to effectupward tilting of the front of the gear wheel thus totilt the shaft 34rearwardly to cause the type wheel 38 to be swung against the platen.

The lever 42 is inclusive of a. forwardly extending portion 46 which, atits front end, is extended upwardly as at 47 through a longitudinallyextending slot 48 in the top wall 13 of the frame A, and thenceforwardly in the form of a finger engageable' manipulating element 49.Obviously, by exerting lateral pressure on the element 49 the lever .42may be shifted along the rod or shaft 41 to effect rotation of the gearwheel 39 and consequently of the type wheel 38, while by depreingsaidelement 49 the lever obviously may be rocked on the shaft 41 toeffect rocking of the type wheel rearwardly against the platen. The typewheel 38 may have type formed directly thereon. Preferably, however, thetype characters 50 are formed separately from said wheel and aredetachably secured thereon whereby they may be individually or'collectively renewed whenever desired. The type wheel may, for example,be formed with a peripheral groove or channel as illustrated and thetypecharacters-may be formed on an elastic band 51 to be frictionally orotherwise retained in said groove or channel. In

`any event, the type characters are spaced circumferentially around thetype wheel and project fromthe periphery thereof so that by rotation ofthe type wheel any desired character may be brought to a rearmostposition whereby subsequent rearward rocking movement of the type wheelcauses the selected character to impinge against a sheet of paperextending across the front-of the platen.

By particular reference to Fig. 1 of the drawings it will be observedthat the edge of the top wall 13 defining the rear edge of the slot 48is provided with a series of notches 52 and that printed or otherwiseprovided on the top wall 13 is a series of characters 53, one alinedwith each notch. The characters 50 on the type wheel 38 correspond tothe characters 53, and thev gear connection between the type wheel andthe lever 42 provided by the rack teeth 44 and the gear Wheel 39 is suchthat by laterally shifting the lever to alinea lug 54 thereon with thenotch alined Lwith any one of the characters 53 a proper amount ofrotation is imparted to the type wheel to bringl the corresponding typecharacter 50 of the wheel to a rearmost position. Thus, the lever 42serves both as a selector of the type characters to be printed and as ameans of effecting printing movement of the type character against asheet extending across the front of. the platen. 4

Because o the engagementof the gear wheel 39 with the lip 45 of thelever 42 the spring 40 obviously functions to maintain the rear end ofsaid lever normally depressed and the front end thereof normallyelevated,

and in this connection it will bev noted that the lower end of the lug54 is spaced above the notched edge of the top wall 13 .of the frame Awhen the lever is in its normal posit-ion, whereby no interference isoffered by said lug to free lateral sliding movement of the lever alongthe rod or shaft-41. `However, upon depression of the lever the lugenters one or another ofthe notches and thereby serves not only toassure accuracy in rotation of the type wheel to bring anyv particularcharacter to a printing position, but also to hold the type wheelagainstV rotation during` its rocking movement;

Suitably mounted on the shaft 34, as for example, by means of a collar55 detachably fixed thereto., is a type guard 56 vhaving a portion 57which overlies the rear peripheral portion of the type wheel 38 andwhich has a recess 58 formed therein for the projection of theindividual type characters 50 therethrough. This portion 57 of the guardis disposed normally outwardly relative to the type characters 50 so asto permit free rotation of the type wheel, but is` resilient so thatupon'rearward rocking movement of the shaft 34 it is, by engagementwitha sheet extending across the front of the platen. depressedforwardly to permit the type to project .through the recess 58 thereininto engagement with the sheet. The guard thus serves to prevent anyprinting by other than the selected character 50. hforeover, said guardconstitutes a support for one or more absorbent ink pads or brushes 59which is or are disposed to have the characters 50 wipe thereagainstduring rotation of the type wheel thus to supply said characters withink to be transferred-to the sheet. i

The invention includes means whereby rocking movement of the shaft 34effects a step-by-step longitudinal advance of the platen for thepurpose of evenly s acing the successively printed characters. eferringparticularly to Figs. 3, 6, 7 and 10 to 12 of the drawings, it will beobserved that. a vertical pivot pin 60 depends from the top wall V13 ofthe frame A at the left hand side of the shaft 34 as viewed in Figs. 6and 7 and that mounted at its front end on said pivot pin for lateralswinging movement is a sheet metal member 61 of preferably U-shapedcross section which extends rearwardly from said pin and has a lateralflange 62 in the edge of which is formed a notch 63 which accommodatesthe sleeve 36 when the shaft 34 is in its normal forwardl rockedposition. From the notch 63 the 'eci'ge of the flange 62 is curvedrearwardly and across the back of the sleeve 36, as indicated at 64,thereby to provide a cam surface against which the sleeve engages duringthe first part of its rearward rocking movement to cause the member 61to be swung laterally and to the left on the pivot pin 60, whilefrom thecamfy surface 64 said edge of the ange is extended rearwardly in anapproximatel straight line, as ind-icated at v65, so that t e finalportion of the rearward rocking movement of the sleeve maintains themember in its rocked position without imparting further rocking movementthereto. On the other hand, the edge of the flange 62 forwardly of thenotch 63 is extended across the front of the sleeve 36 as at 66, sothatupon forward rocking movelnent of the sleeve the same engages theedge 66 and swings the member 61 to its normal position. Thus, it ismanifest that each time the shaft 34 is rocked rearwardly the member 61is swung first laterally to the left and is returned to its normalposition when the shaft 34 is rocked forwardly.

Pivoted as at 67 to the rear or free end of the member 61 is a pawl 68whichis urged constantly rearwardly by a spring 69 and which is providedat its free end with a hook formation 70 for cooperation with ratchetteeth 71 formed along an outwardly directed extension of the frontcarriage flange 19.

losV

Thus, during the first part of the rearward rocking movement of theshaft 34 the pivotal movement imparted to the member'l produces alongitudinal movement of the pawl 68 to the left with consequent advanceof the platen carriage and the platen to the'left an amount which ispredetermined to orrespond `to the proper spacing apart `of t e printedcharacters. This platen movement occurs prior to actual contact of thetype 50 with the platen and is completed just prior to such contact sothat as the type strikes lthe platen the latter is stationary and anyblurring of the printed character thereby is avoided. Upon forwardrocking movement of the shaft 34 the member 61 is swung to the right andrethe platen 22 and the paper guideplate 31 and by rotation of theplaten is caused to be advanced thereunder between the platen and thefeed roller 27. The paper is',.- guiled,up wardly by the bottom portionof tlie'jplate 3 1 across the front of the platen and is readily engagedbetween the platen and t and latching it in its normal 'positi`)`n. .y``When a sheet of paper thushas been operatively engaged with the platenthe typewriter `is ready for use, and writing on the paper is effectedas follows z-The elementl i 49 is grasped and is moved to the right ortothe left as maybe necessary to bring the lug 54 `into alinement withthe desired characterl .'53

to be printed. This results, because ofthe engagement of the rack teeth44 with the gear wheel39, in rotation of the type wheel 38 to bring thecorresponding type character 50 on the type wheel to a rearmost oroperative position relative to the platen 20. The element 54 then isdepressed and, because of the engagement of the lip 45 with the front ofthe gear wheel 39, produces rearward rocking movement of the shaft 34,the sleeve 36 and the type wheel. During the first part of this rearwardrocking movement the platen islongitudinally advanced one step to theleft by the pawl 68 as heretofore explained, and immediately thereafterfurther depres sion of the element 54 causes the selected'type character5() to strike the sheet of paper extending across the front of theplaten. The element 54 then is released and the type wheel is rockedforwardly and the lever 42 `is returned to its normal position by thespring 40. When, by repeating this operation, a line of typing has beencompleted, the platen is manually returned to its starting position andis rotated a desired amount to effect the desired spacing betweenlines,and the selection and printing of the characters on the new lineis continued as before.

Without further description it is thought that the features andadvantages of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled inthe art, and it will of course be understood that changes in the form,proportion and o ler or; rollers 29 by lifting the latch 30, swinging,thej shaft 28 outwardly, introducingfthepaper between the platen .andthe roller or rollers` and subsequently returning the shaftv-28 Itominor'details of construction may be resorted to, without departingfromthe spirit of the invention and scope of the-appended claims.

1. A typewriter comprising a platen, a. type wheel mounted adjacent tothe platen for rotation to bring a selected type character intooperative position relative to the platen, said type wheel also beingmounted for rocking movement to cause the selected type character tostrike the platen, a gear y wheel fixed with respect to said type wheel,

and an intermediately pivoted and laterally I .slidable lever having arack engaging said' gear whereby lateral sliding movement of eratingwith saidfgear so that pivotal movement of the lever is effective torock the gear kand thereby to rock the type wheel.

2. A typewriter comprising a platen, a type wheel mounted adjacent tothe platen for rotation to bring a selected type charac ter intooperative position relative to the platen, said type wheel also beingmounted for rocking movement to cause the selected type 'character t0strike the platen, a gear wheel fixed with respect to said type wheel,

`character into operative position relatively tothe platen and rockableto cause the selected. type character to strike the platen, means forrotating and rocking said type wheel, a' carriage guide comprising ametal strip -mounted on the frame and having up- Iwardly and outwardlydirected marginal flanges, the carriage having downwardly and inwardlydirected marginal flanges engaging said guide flanges, one of saidcarriage flanges having an extension provided with ratchet teeth, and apawl mounted on the frame for actuation by rocking movement of the typewheel to cooperate with said teeth to advance the carriage and theplaten.

4. In a typewriter, a platen carriage having ratchet teeth, a platencarried thereby, a type carrier, a -type'carrier supporting elementrockable to actuate the type carrier to cause the type charactersthereof to strike the platen, and means whereby rocking movement of thetype wheel supporting element effects longitudinal movement of thecarriage, said means comprising a pivoted cam member disposed to beswung by wipthe lever is effective to rotate the type wheel, said leverfurther having a formation cooping movement of the type carriersupporting element thereagainst during rocking thereof, and a pawlpivoted to said cam member and disposed for cooperation with the teethof the carriage.

5. A typewriter comprising -a platen, a type carrier operable by onekind of movement to bring a selected type character into operativeposition relative to the platen and by a different kind of movement tocause the selected type character to strikethe platen, an element fixedwith respect to said type carrier, a single operating member constantlyoperatively engaged with said element and having two different kinds ofmovement, and means whereby said member is operable directly throughsaid element by one of its kinds of movement to impart one of themovements to the type carrier to bring a selected type character intooperative position, and also is operable directly through said elementby its other kind of movement L to-cause a change in the relativepositions of the element and member whereby the other kind of movementis imparted to the type carrier to cause the selected type character tostrike the platen.

6. A typewriter as set forth in claim 5 inl which the type carrierandthe element fixed with respect thereto have rotatable and rockablemovements, and in which the operating member has lateral and rockingmovements effective respectively to impart' the aforesaid movements totheY type carrier.

7. A typewriter as set forth in claim 5 in which the type carrier andthe element fixed with respect thereto have rotatable and rockablemovements, and in which the operating member is bodily movable to impartrotation to said element and type carrier and pivotally movable toimpartrocking movement to said element and type carrier.

8. In a typewriter, a frame, a platen carriage, a platen carried by saidcarriage, a type Wheel rotatable to bring a selected type character intooperative position relatively to the platen and rockable to cause the selected type character to strike the platen, means for rotating androcking said type wheel, carriage guides formed of sheet metalcomprising a plurality of slidably interlitting flanges extendingupwardly -from the frame and downwardly from the carriage, respectively,one of said carriage flanges having ratchet teeth formed thereon, and apawl mounted on the frame for actuation by rocking movement of the typewheel to cooperate with said teeth to advance the carriage and theplaten.

In testimony whereof I hereunto ailix my signature.

" THOMAS RAYMOND ARDEN.

